Latest market data

Stock search

The concept of tracking employee work hours can be deceptively
simple. In practice, it can be a vexing chore.

In my shop of five contract employees, we started out with paper
invoices. I would beg, I would plead, and still they would arrive
months late. Next, we tried e-mailed time sheets. They were fine
-- when they showed up, which was half the time. Finally, like
many businesses, I invested in comprehensive online
project-management software that did everything from estimate
projects to track hours. Too complicated, my employees
moaned.

I'm trying again, this time with simple applications that focus
more on simply tracking time. The benefits of single-use tools
include being simpler to learn, working better with existing
business software and lower cost in both time and money. And I
recruited my most, um, vocal employee, who finds most complex
web-based business applications not worth the effort. She prefers
simple email and the phone for tracking work. The two of us
tested out some stripped-down time-tracking apps to see if they
could make both our lives easier.

Here's a round-up of our tests of clock-watching tools, including
their advantages, drawbacks and the types of users they might fit
best.

What it does:Toggl claims to offer effortless
time-tracking, even of jobs performed in fragments. It can be
used on the Web site or downloaded to your desktop or to your
iPhone or Android phone. The product was created by Apprise, a
company based in Estonia. Pricing plans include $12 a month
for five users and $39 a month for 20 users.

Why it might work for you: Sign-up, adding tasks
and logging hours are easy. A “continue” button next to each job
makes it simple to log chunks of time on the same job. A handy,
easy to manage onscreen timer lets employees track precisely how
long they work on a job.

Why it might not: Project-management features
are not as slick as Toggl claims. It can track against the total
time spent on a job, but not nearly as powerfully as
project-management software, such as LiquidPlanner, ManyMoon or
Netsuite. Also, the whole system relies the users on tagging
projects with a consistent set of keywords, which can be tough to
get right. Defining them often becomes a matter of debate. And
there are some issues with that handy timer. First, there's no
verifying that the employee using it is actually working. Second,
it’s easy to forget to turn it off, although if that happens, you
can easily adjust hours later.

2. yaTimerBest for solepreneurs or those who want a desktop-based
timing tool

What it does:YaTimer, from the small Israeli-based
software-developer NBD Tech Ltd., is a downloadable app that
lives on users’ desktops. It isn’t web-based, so connectivity
is not needed for it to work. It caters to the multi-tasker
and lets users track time on more one than one job at once.
The app costs $27 to $39 per user per year.

Why it might work for you: YaTimer’s forms-based
interface can be customized for your employees and it has
professional feel. Think Outlook, but for time-tracking. It has
helpful features like estimating how much time remains on a job.
And I liked the big clock that sits on workers' desktops and
reminds them that they are working for you -- and not getting
paid to play with the kids or check out the latest on Facebook.

Why it might not: Reporting is not as
collaborative as with more Web-based apps. In my testing, it was
far too easy to delete time accidentally without accurately
reporting it. As for the multi-tasking option, is it really
possible to work on two projects at once? More seriously, Jill, a
Mac-user, could not download the Windows-only software.

What it does:Tick, from Molehill, a small web-app
developer based in Jacksonville, Fla., bills itself as an
intuitive time-tracking app. It highlights how much work is
left on a project, so companies can easily see if they need to
regroup to stay on budget. A $19-a-month plan for small
businesses allows for 15 open projects, and a plan with
unlimited open projects costs $79 a month.

Why it might work for you: Tick offers a mix of
powerful desktop functions and easy-to-use, web-based reporting.
Client assignments and task-management tools are intuitive, and I
found central administration of clients simple and helpful. Tick
has your back: When Jill accidentally booked 9.48 hours for a job
I had budgeted for just one hour, she immediately saw a scary red
bar telling her she was seriously over budget on the job, and I
got an e-mail with the same unhappy news. I could see that
feature paying off.

Why it might not: Tick is not as simple as it
seems at first. It took effort to enter and correctly manage
client names, project names and how you want to handle billing.
Also, in our business, we often do part of a job and come back to
it later. We had trouble figuring out how to do that with Tick.

Time-keeping is just like any other bit of business software: The
tool itself is not a solution to a practical business problem. It
would be a mistake to simply pick a tool, deploy it and hope it
works. You need to carefully see if one solution helps your
particular employees. That means, some testing is in order. Try
out the one that seems to meet your needs best for a month or
two. And if you see a gain, roll the service out.